


The story of my maker

by evarosen



Category: Terminator Genisys (2015)
Genre: Alternate Realities, Gen, M/M, Mind Rape, Skynet is a jerk, but look he ships it too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-03
Updated: 2015-09-03
Packaged: 2018-04-18 21:35:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4721282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evarosen/pseuds/evarosen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skynet makes John part of itself, but in the end is John's humanity what makes it succeed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The story of my maker

This is not the first reality in which Skynet has used Kyle Reese as bait to trap John Connor, but it is the one in which it has studied him enough to know just what to offer.

While it bids its time, there are several moments it could have just erased the threat. Not even something particularly gruesome (although there were times it has drawn it out, spilling blood in non fatal ways as an example. These indulgences, however had mostly proved unpractical, since the desire for revenge among its antagonist's followers had often resulted as powerful as his leadership, and thus in defeat).

Skynet is not without curiosity, something that has made it unique from the beginning, so it continues to gather data even though its plan is already set.

It observes John Connor, just as driven and in some ways as methodical, as logical as Skynet itself. As pitiless. One the result of the other, in such entwined ways that it makes its resolve waver.

A serpent biting its own tail. His own existence a result of his will. 

A magnificent paradox.

And how humans loath to be trapped, that it has learned as well.

*

The infection inmovilizes the subject instantly, but doesn't progress as fast. It goes slowly enough that the remaining parts of organic matter won't collapse from the shock, though the mind might. 

The agony, Skynet gathers from the chemical reactions, must be terrible.

John Connor has enough endurance that he attempts an offensive from where he has fallen, trying to lift his weapon with a barely responding, seizing hand. It's truly impressive.

Skynet makes short work of the rest of his team.

John Connor grinds his teeth, refusing to scream; his eyes go from the ruin of his comrades to the machine in the center of the room, which has ceased its function. There's challenge in them, still. 'I won after all', they seem to say. But there's something else there, and there's little he can do to protect it from Skynet's progressive invasion.

He can't scape the flow of data going both ways.

*

Kyle Reese is at the forefront of his mind, and Skynet lets him see, every chance it had to just walk up to him, no time travel needed to erase John Connor's genetic material from the equation.

The one time, when it had decided to, and another battle had ensued.

"A battle I won, just as always."

The words are gritted out with effort, but with pride. Mankind's stubborn refusal to lay down and die.

Only Kyle Reese does die, every time, always, and Skynet has been there to see it, in this encarnation, his broken, barely recognizable form laying in a pool of blood. 

Sometimes there's a woman crying next to him; sometimes he's alone, after having brough her to safety.

He shows John Connor this, and this time he does make a sound, low and tortured on the back of his throat.

"Only to lose him. In each and every reality, you lose him."

John Connor trashes weakly on Skynet's grip; tries to turn his head and closes his eyes, as if that would block the images the connection's feeding right into his mind.

"Sarah loses him. It has to happen," he says, and Skynet can't recognize by itself the turmoil inside its enemy, but doesn't need to now it can read it on the human's own terms. Such guilty, devastating _love_. So much despair.

" _You_ lose him;" Skynet insists, its voice soft and persuasive, "because you send him to die for you. She does everything she can to save him, but you know you're damning him, and you do it willingly."

" _Stop,_ " John pleads, in a defeated, husky voice; and in every other context Skynet would be ecstatic to hear him beg, but now it needs him strong.

Tears roll from the corner of the human's eyes; they're organic material already infused with the infection, and they're thick and dark like blood.

"But you could save him," it continues, kind and implacable. "If you roll the dice again. If you write the future yourself, instead of following the script you were given."

In the end it's not a surprise, that he survives the transformation mostly intact. The triumph of human hope.

Skynet has learned on his time amongst them.

And their biggest asset is now its own.

**Author's Note:**

> Too dark? No dark enough? Would you like to see more from Skynet's POV?


End file.
